The Birth of an Author: Elisabeth-Charlotte (“Liselotte”), duchess of Orléans during the Nine Years’ War 1685–1697

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Sven Externbrink
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565960832

Elisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans, known in Germany as “Liselotte” and in France as “Madame”, is still known to a wider public outside of historical research. She owes this to her letters from the court of Louis XIV. One reason for the continuing interest in her letters is that, on the one hand, they could be integrated into widespread anti-French enemy discourses until 1945 and, on the other hand, they painted the picture of a supposedly decadent court through numerous “savoury” anecdotes. At the same time, they confirmed the prevailing negative image of the early modern royal court. Although Liselotte has long since ceased to serve as a witness of a German-French hereditary enmity, many elements of the image of Liselotte based on this foundation are still powerful. Overcoming these persistent clichés is one of the aims of this interdisciplinary project, which combines historical and literary-historical perspectives. To this end, Elisabeth Charlotte and her correspondence will be located in current historical research on nobility, gender, dynasties and courts, as well as in research on self-testimony and literary-historical letters and networks. The letters to her aunt Sophie of Hanover and her other correspondence partners between 1680 and 1697 are at the centre of the project. These almost 20 years mark a turning point in her life. During this period, she lost her parents and almost all of her closest relatives, Heidelberg and the Electoral Palatinate were systematically devastated during the Nine Years' War (formerly known as the Palatinate War of Succession) and her status at the French court changed at the same time. The letters will be analysed from two perspectives: firstly, with regard to personal and European caesuras 1680-1697, and secondly with regard to the significance of the letters as self-testimonies, expressions of an aristocratic epistolary culture and the correspondence networks that can be reconstructed through them. During the period under investigation, and possibly as a consequence of these experiences, it is argued that the “birth of the author” Elisabeth Charlotte took place: in order to “divert” her aunt Sophie, Elisabeth Charlotte – consciously or unconsciously – gradually exploited the literary potential of the medium of the letter in all directions: to convey information, to share wisdom, to report on encounters and conversations, to philosophise, to blaspheme, to entertain, in order to engage in a dialogue with the respective letter partner. All these characteristics also distinguish the literary quality of the letters of Madame de Sévigné, who, like Elisabeth Charlotte, did not attribute any literary value to her letters. The aim is not only to emphasise the great historical source value of the letters, but also to discover Elisabeth-Charlotte as an author in her own right, who found the appropriate form of expression in the medium of the letter

• DFG Programme: Research Grants